The party of French President Emmanuel Macron, La République and Marche, today elects a leader. But it does not do that – as you might expect in France – in a very democratic way.

There is only one candidate and that man has been appointed by President Macron himself. It is Christophe Castaner, now still secretary of state in the government. The party can choose him or no one. …

That is what makes the party congress today in Lyon a kind of Chinese political theater play, say critics, with party members as applause robots and President Macron as Mao. The Great Leader decides and the followers nod benevolently. The comparison may seem out of place, but comes from Macron himself.

During his election campaign, he compared himself with the Chinese leader Mao, because everything went so efficiently. He also talked about a Cultural Revolution and his collaborators called Macron’s campaign jokingly ‘The Long March‘.

But the state of affairs at the party congress causes dissatisfaction among the members. Last week, party dissidents published a manifesto. It does not make the comparison with China, but with the Soviet Union in the 1950s.

“Freedom of speech does not exist and internal criticism of the leadership is not allowed,” they write about their own party. “The upcoming canonization of Christophe Castaner as the leader of the party offers little hope for party members who want more democracy.”

According to the dissidents, Macron behaves like a sort of Stalin, imposes his will and does not tolerate criticism.

All in all, therefore, Macron’s ambitions do not look easily achievable. Like Matteo Renzi in Italy (not so long ago the blue-eyed poster-boy of European politics) he could fall from grace as quickly as he has risen. In five years he may even be seen as the Louis XVI rather than the Louis XIV of French politics, a second Giscard rather than a second de Gaulle. For the moment, however, the glitz, glamour and glitter gives him the aura of a movie star. And he believes in his destiny. Only time will tell whether he is right to do so: here.